Sammelkommentar: Die beiden Bilder entstanden als Wettbewerbsarbeiten der Wiener Akademie 1752. Die Statuten gaben vor, dass das Thema zunächst in einer Skizze in Klausur zu malen war. Dadurch erhielten Ölskizzen die Bedeutung von innovativen, eigenständigen Kunstwerken. Die Ausführung hatte dem Entwurf präzise zu folgen. Sie bewahrt deshalb die lebendig spontane Handschrift. Als Thema war die Prüfung des von Aussatz befallenen Hiob vorgegeben. Bergl zeigt, wie Hiobs Leid von seiner Frau und seinen Freunden beklagt wird.

Job on the Dung Heap: Completed Work for the Academy Competition in 1752. Oil on canvas. Summary: The two paintings were executed as competition works for the Vienna Academy in 1752. The rules prescribed that the subject had initially to be painted as a sketch in private. In this way oil sketches became significant as innovative, independent works of art. The completed work had to copy the design precisely. As a result its freshness and spontaneity remained intact. The subject was the trial of Job afflicted with leprosy. Bergl shows how Job's suffering is lamented over by his wife and his friends.